Our four remaining teams are off to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the Sisters face their toughest challenge right off the bat — trying to drive a stick.

Yay! Why do the only girls left in Amazing Race Canada have to live up to the stereotype of hopeless drivers? Why couldn’t they have taken lessons before the show began? Vanessa and Celina claim to have tried manual once, with “very little success.” No kidding. They stall in the airport parkade. They stall on the way to Pier 21 in Halifax. They stall on the way to Mahone Bay. Sigh.

Not that it really mattered. This episode, despite featuring another double U-Turn, wasn’t an elimination round. Not that any team USED the double U-Turn. In other words, this was a disappointing episode … filled with less than spectacular challenges and little (but needless) tension.

The first task, to be honest, was a pointless nod to Canadian history — get seven stamps at Pier 21, where immigrants were processed when they first arrived in our country. Nice touch, but not really a challenge. (Except for the fact that all four teams arrived at night and had to sleep over until the museum opened at 6 a.m., thereby allowing the girls to catch up to the others.) Not surprisingly, Team Bros, Half Edmonton (Cory and Jody), Tims, and Sisters basically finished within minutes of each other. Not surprisingly, the girls soon got left in the dust, thanks to their lack of stick-handling skills … which, granted, did improve over the course of the episode. “I was practicing in my sleep,” quipped Celine. Double sigh.

The second task wasn’t much harder — drive to Mahone Bay, find a scarecrow, then create its twin. At least it wasn’t hard for Half Edmonton and the Tims, who finished making their scarecrows long before Team Bros, who were actually the first to get to the challenge. Oddly, poor Jet had trouble finding the “bosom” of his scarecrow in the mountain of clothes and body parts he had to choose from. This after boldly claiming: “How many scarecrows have I built? Zero. How many women have I helped get ready on a Saturday night? That’s a different equation.” At least he finished ahead of Team Sisters.

The Detour in Lunenburg was next … fish for six lobster (Surf) or memorize 12 different types of German sausages (Turf). Half Edmonton went for the lobster … and seemed to reel in the clawed creatures with ease. The Tims went for the wurst … and managed to nail the challenge on their first try, even with a brief mental lapse by Tim Sr.

Team Bros also tried the lobster and, after a few squirmy moments, managed to complete the task. The Sisters, bringing up the rear, decided to go with the sausages and needed two shots at identifying the meats.

Once finished, the teams raced to St. John’s Anglican Church, where the Double U-Turn was waiting for them … and a box with a dime in it. Half Edmonton managed to beat the Tims to the church in what was the episode’s only real bit of tension … but neither team opted to use the U-Turn.

Half Edmonton immediately realized the dime was the next clue — go to the Bluenose II featured on one side of the coin. The Tims, unfortunately, had no clue WHAT the boat was and had to ask a local for help. “Is that a big deal here?” asked Jr. “I guess so,” replied Sr. I guess the history portion of Amazing Race Canada isn’t quite as pointless as I thought. (Wouldn’t you know it? The girls didn’t know about the Bluenose II either. Triple sigh.)

As each team arrived at the boat, host Jon Montgomery led the pairs to believe they’d reached the pit stop … then hit them with another clue. Head to St. John’s, Newfoundland. Yup, no team was eliminated. No team will be forced to complete a speed bump in next week’s episode.

All four are still racing … with Half Edmonton in the lead, followed by the Tims, Bros, and the Sisters. Barring a monumental collapse by the first three teams, I don’t think the girls will make it past the ninth (and penultimate) episode.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the “X” in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.